Mitate Shrine

 

Mitate Shrine is the main shrine of Saijo in the mountains of Higashihiroshima, and is located just north of the towns main railway station.

It moved to this location in 1910, along with the nearby Wakamiya, Hachiman, Ebisu, Kanazaki, and Daiichi shrines.

The Otateinari Shrine is on the approach to the main shrine.

The original Mitate Shrine is said to have been founded in 706 after the local people prayed to Gozu Tenno and successfully stopped a plague.

Gozu Tenno has been associated with Susano for a long time, but since the Meiji Period all instances of Gozu Tenno have been officially changed to Susano.

Along with Susano, the other main kami listed are Kotoshironushi, and Ichikishimahime.

The shrine has numerous pairs of komainu, in a variety of styles.

Most seem to date to the mid 19th century before the shrine moved to the current location.

One pair date to the early 20th century, after the move.

It seems that before the Meiji Period it was called Gion Shrine.

In the mid 20th century a branch of Matsuo Shrine was established in the grounds.

Matsuo Shrine is the patron shrine of sake brewing, and, like Fushimi Inari, was established by the Hata Clan.

Saijo is one of the major sake brewing towns in Japan, and often calls itself  the Sake Capital.

Though right in the centre of the town the shrine is within a large park and so has plenty of greenery

The previous post was on Yamatogen Shrine....

I have not seen anything like this before.... a tanuki dressed as a Shinto priest and a device for, I guess, whispering something into iys ears.....

The New Fukuoka Tower

The New Fukuoka Tower stands next to the beach in the Momochi District of Fukuoka City.

Kouhayou is a monumental sculpture by Kyubei Kiyomizu ( 1922-2006) installed on the approach to Fukuoka Tower.

The reason it is called the New Fukuoka Tower is because an older, much smaller tower still stands at Hakata Port.

At 234 meters in height it is the tallest seaside tower in Japan, though the highest observation deck is only at 123 meters.

The final 111 meters of the tower is a TV mast.

The tower has an unusual triangular cross-section.

It was built in 1989 by Nikken Sekkei.

The elevator whisks you to the observation deck in 70 seconds.

The exterior is clad in half-mirrored glass, enabling visitors to see outside as they ride the elevator.

The tower is open from 09:30 to 22:00. Entry is 1,000 yen for adults.

In the evenings the exterior of the tower shows a variety of illumination displays, changing with the seasons and for special events.

Marizon, a pier that extends out from the beach into the sea in front of the tower is home to numerous shops and eateries.

The previous post in this series on the modern architecture of Fukuoka was on Fukuoka City Museum

Yamatogen Shrine

 

Along an uninhabited stretch of the Numata River north bank, with Kochi being the next settlement, stands Yamatogen Shrine.

After the torii the way to the shrine crosses the railway tracks, a not too uncommon situation and when I appraoched the shrine I was very, very surprised to see this.....

A rope snake wrapped around a tree!!!!!.... this was called Omoto in my area, and ojin in Izumo and on the Oki Islands.

It is a remnant of a type of religious practice that was much more common in earlier days, a serpent representing the local land kami.

This was the first time to see one in Hiroshima although I have visited quite a few shrines in the mountains of Hiroshima, especially along the Gonokawa River and around Miyoshi...

The shrine was obviously of some importance as the banners were up for the annual matsuri

But I could find almost no information on the shrine except for one site suggesting the kami was Amenokoyane, the ancestral kami of the Fujiwara....

The way the serpent was wrapped around the tree and climbing up it was very reminiscent of how I had seen some in the Oki Islands. An enigma wrapped in a mystery.

The previous post in this series on day 14 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the Hiroshima Airport Bridge a little downstream...